Alison's Blog

How are you presenting yourself!

No Comments |
June 20, 2013

Being business like and professional is vital if you want to get on in life and get people to take us seriously.

Whatever you do you are being judged, it seems to be an innate human quality that sometimes goes out of control!!! Apparently when you meet someone new, you have about 7 seconds to impress them. After that it’s all too late, they have decided what sort of person you are, how much money you have, what sort of house you live in and what sort of car you drive!

It’s not necessarily a conscious process, it’s going on in the background at lightening speed, something to do with our primitive roots I believe! In ancient times you had to act fast……otherwise you could be in danger?!!

First I wanted to talk about the judging process when you are actually face to face with someone, and then the more external types of personal presentation.

So let’s start with the face to face first meeting and the important things to remember if you want to make a good impression on your clients or your boss for that matter!

Make sure you get your shoulders back, open the chest and get into a positive posture. Slumped, shy, ‘I want to hide, ground swallow me up’ type postures will not instil confidence in you for anyone at all! Be proud!

Don’t have your mobile phone turned on, or certainly put it on silent!

Smile, but smile from the inside so you are giving off nice energy. The smile should be natural and sincere, a false smile is worse than not smiling at all! If you do this, you will find people actually want to be around you instead of maybe booking with you once, and then always choosing another therapist, or worse still never coming back!

A wet fish hand shake is an absolute no! It just gives off lack of integrity and people don’t feel they can trust you. A nice solid handshake please!

No folded arms while you are talking, be open and animated so people can engage with you and get a sense of trustworthiness from you.

Eye contact. Make eye contact with people, there is nothing worse than trying to communicate with someone who will not look you in the eye. I certainly would not trust anyone that can’t look me in the eye!

Give compliments generously, sincere ones, there is always something positive you can say about someone and it makes everyone feel good!

Not too much perfume…subtle during the day when you working is always best, Dior’s Poison is not the best choice!!! I love Tom Ford’s Vetiver for example, I know it’s a man’s fragrance, but I wear it all the time. Light, fresh and not overwhelming!

Now what about other types of communication?

I always think your e-mail address says allot about you, it’s always more professional to have something like julie@thebeautyspa.co.uk for example rather than juliebear123@hotmail.com. You just need to ask your IT friend to set you up an e-mail address that represents what you do, or who you are.

Your e-mail signature is also a nice thing to get looking professional. Have maybe your logo, website address and even a nice quote that represents you!

Careful with Facebook, you might just want to keep clients directed to your professional facebook page, you may not necessarily want the world and his wife coughing over funny photos you put up of, what is funny for you and your friends, but something that could ruin your reputation and stop people taking you seriously.

I believe that all this stuff is just about getting conscious about our impact on the world and asking yourself, what impression am I making?